Jesus Feeds the 5000

Come, and Be Filled

Matthew 15

Jesus was heartbroken. He had just heard the news that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been murdered by the king. With an aching heart, He left to find a quiet place outside the city walls. News traveled quickly that Jesus had left, and a crowd went in search of Him.

When Jesus saw the huge crowd of people that had come to find Him, His heart was filled with love. Even as He grieved for His cousin, He went into the crowd and healed all the people who were sick. As the sky darkened to evening, the disciples worried that the crowd was hungry.

“Tell them to go home, or to find a village to buy food,” a disciple suggested to Jesus.

“They don’t need to go away,” Jesus replied. “Give them something to eat.”

“We only have five loaves of bread and two fishes with us,” said another. There simply wasn’t enough food for everyone.

“Bring them here to me,” answered the Master.

While the disciples gathered up the bread and fish, Jesus told the multitude to sit in the grass. The disciples watched and wondered how He could possibly provide for so many with so little.

Jesus took the bread and the fish, looked up towards Heaven and blessed the small meal. Then Jesus broke up the bread and fish into pieces and told the disciples to pass the food to the crowd.

With awe, the disciples continued to pass around food until everyone was full. When the people had finished, the disciples brought twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish back to where Jesus sat at the front of the group. He had provided for over 5,000 people, with plenty to spare.